John Steinbeck was born on February 27th, 1902 in Salinas, California. As a child, he lived in a middle class neighborhood, and often took trips to a family ranch during the summer with his family. He enjoyed life on the ranch and later used it as a setting in some of his works. He had three siblings; two older sisters and one younger sister. He loved to read, and at age ten he read Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur. The legends of King Arthur in the book influenced many later writings. He attended Salinas High School. At the age of fifteen, he decided he wanted to be a writer. He often spent a lot of time in his room at home writing. After he graduated high school, he attended Stanford University in 1919 for a degree in English. However, he was suspended after his second year for failing grades and poor attendance. In 1923 he returned to Stanford, but left in 1925 without graduating. John Steinbeck, three-quarter length portrait, seated, facing front, holding copy of his book "Travels with Charley".
Inspiration
There were many authors and pieces of literature that inspired John Steinbeck to write his books. During the Great Depression he was inspired to write The Grapes of Wrath in 1939. Many people believed that it was the best book, at that time, to portray the effects of the Depression. Books like Paradise Lost, The Bible, Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur all inspired him to write. Ever since he was little, he was interested in the stories of King Arthur. Later in his life, he started to write his own version of King Arthur and His Knights although he never completed it. In his adulthood, he made friends with Edward F. Ricketts, a marine biologist, who led him to important works of Mark Briffault, W.C. Allee, and John Elof Boodin.
John Steinbeck, seated, looking away from the camera. Other authors and their works were not the only source of inspiration for John. His story The Red Pony was inspired by his early years in life. When he was four, his father got him and his sister a pony to take care of. That pony was the inspiration for the story. The ranch in the story was based off of his mother’s family’s ranch, the Hamilton Ranch. John’s childhood life was reflected in Carl Tifflin and his son, Jody’s, relationship. He used his own life as inspiration for his work. During the time he wrote the story, his mother was in the hospital. He still wrote the story saying that “if I can write any kind of story at a time like this, then I can write stories.” He used times in his life as a way to provided a challenge for his writing to increase his skills. He used a technique in some of his writings where the reader would create what was going on in the character’s mind. It also helped inspire some of his later stories’ techniques like The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden.
Cover of John Steinbeck's The Red Pony.
Career
John Steinbeck started writing books after college. His first novel was Cup of Gold, published in 1927. The book sold, but was not overly successful. What brought him real fame and is considered to be one of his best works was TortillaFlat, published in 1936. It was considered his first “successful” book, and was later made into a movie. Raved about, Tortilla Flat brought Steinbeck his first taste of popularity and wealth.
In 1937, Of Mice and Men was published. Another one of his great works, it was a “play-novelette”; he intended for it to be both a novel and a script for a play. It was an immediate hit, and in the first two weeks after it was published 117,000 copies were sold. It was made into a Broadway play, but Steinbeck never got to see it because he was working on his next “big book”, The Grapes of Wrath. Published in 1941, The Grapes of Wrath is about dispossessed farmers forced to move west. It sold 19,804 advance editions, and was soon selling 10,000 copies per week. It won a Pulitzer Prize for the year, and brought Steinbeck more popularity than ever.
Darryl F. Zanuck's production of "The Grapes of wrath" by John Steinbeck with Henry Fonda and Jane Darwell, John Carradine ...
Although John Steinbeck had much success with his writing, after Grapes of Wrath he experienced a period of time in which his works were not successful or well received. One of these books, The Moon is Down (1942), spiked a big controversy. It details a town’s resistance to a Nazi invasion, which angered Americans and inspired Europeans. Many people were appalled, and The Moon is Down remains to be one of Steinbeck’s most controversial books. Another book that fell flat was Cannery Row, published in 1947. Meant to be a humorous story, many readers thought it was just “fluff” in comparison to his great works like Grapes of Wrath and Tortilla Flat.
Despite all of this, Steinbeck is considered to be a great author, writing 30 pieces of literature during the course of his career. His greatest works are still read today in many schools around the world.
A simple overview of John Steinbeck's life.
Early Life
John Steinbeck was born on February 27th, 1902 in Salinas, California. As a child, he lived in a middle class neighborhood, and often took trips to a family ranch during the summer with his family. He enjoyed life on the ranch and later used it as a setting in some of his works. He had three siblings; two older sisters and one younger sister. He loved to read, and at age ten he read Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur. The legends of King Arthur in the book influenced many later writings. He attended Salinas High School. At the age of fifteen, he decided he wanted to be a writer. He often spent a lot of time in his room at home writing. After he graduated high school, he attended Stanford University in 1919 for a degree in English. However, he was suspended after his second year for failing grades and poor attendance. In 1923 he returned to Stanford, but left in 1925 without graduating.John Steinbeck, three-quarter length portrait, seated, facing front, holding copy of his book "Travels with Charley".
Inspiration
There were many authors and pieces of literature that inspired John Steinbeck to write his books. During the Great Depression he was inspired to write The Grapes of Wrath in 1939. Many people believed that it was the best book, at that time, to portray the effects of the Depression. Books like Paradise Lost, The Bible, Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur all inspired him to write. Ever since he was little, he was interested in the stories of King Arthur. Later in his life, he started to write his own version of King Arthur and His Knights although he never completed it. In his adulthood, he made friends with Edward F. Ricketts, a marine biologist, who led him to important works of Mark Briffault, W.C. Allee, and John Elof Boodin.
John Steinbeck, seated, looking away from the camera.
Other authors and their works were not the only source of inspiration for John. His story The Red Pony was inspired by his early years in life. When he was four, his father got him and his sister a pony to take care of. That pony was the inspiration for the story. The ranch in the story was based off of his mother’s family’s ranch, the Hamilton Ranch. John’s childhood life was reflected in Carl Tifflin and his son, Jody’s, relationship. He used his own life as inspiration for his work. During the time he wrote the story, his mother was in the hospital. He still wrote the story saying that “if I can write any kind of story at a time like this, then I can write stories.” He used times in his life as a way to provided a challenge for his writing to increase
his skills. He used a technique in some of his writings where the reader would create what was going on in the character’s mind. It also helped inspire some of his later stories’ techniques like The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden.
Cover of John Steinbeck's The Red Pony.
Career
John Steinbeck started writing books after college. His first novel was Cup of Gold, published in 1927. The book sold, but was not overly successful. What brought him real fame and is considered to be one of his best works was Tortilla Flat, published in 1936. It was considered his first “successful” book, and was later made into a movie. Raved about, Tortilla Flat brought Steinbeck his first taste of popularity and wealth.In 1937, Of Mice and Men was published. Another one of his great works, it was a “play-novelette”; he intended for it to be both a novel and a script for a play. It was an immediate hit, and in the first two weeks after it was published 117,000 copies were sold. It was made into a Broadway play, but Steinbeck never got to see it because he was working on his next “big book”, The Grapes of Wrath. Published in 1941, The Grapes of Wrath is about dispossessed farmers forced to move west. It sold 19,804 advance editions, and was soon selling 10,000 copies per week. It won a Pulitzer Prize for the year, and brought Steinbeck more popularity than ever.
Darryl F. Zanuck's production of "The Grapes of wrath" by John Steinbeck with Henry Fonda and Jane Darwell, John Carradine ...
Although John Steinbeck had much success with his writing, after Grapes of Wrath he experienced a period of time in which his works were not successful or well received. One of these books, The Moon is Down (1942), spiked a big controversy. It details a town’s resistance to a Nazi invasion, which angered Americans and inspired Europeans. Many people were appalled, and The Moon is Down remains to be one of Steinbeck’s most controversial books. Another book that fell flat was Cannery Row, published in 1947. Meant to be a humorous story, many readers thought it was just “fluff” in comparison to his great works like Grapes of Wrath and Tortilla Flat.
Despite all of this, Steinbeck is considered to be a great author, writing 30 pieces of literature during the course of his career. His greatest works are still read today in many schools around the world.
Additional Reading
__http://www.famousauthors.org/john-steinbeck__
__http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1962/steinbeck-bio.html__
Complete list of published works:
__http://classiclit.about.com/od/steinbeckjohn/a/John-Steinbeck-List-Of-Works.htm__